There may be some light on the horizon for crypto advocates in Russia as Binance joins the Association of Russian Banks to help formulate a regulatory framework.
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, is partnering with the Association of Russian Banks to share its regulatory expertise with Russian financial institutions and the government as Russians grow stronger. cautiously venture into regulatory territory.
Binance is the first exchange to venture into working within the banking sector, according to its representatives.
The Association of Russian Banks has established a Center of Experts on Digital Financial Assets. The Association of Banks of Russia includes more than 300 banks and financial companies. It covers nearly 90% of the country’s banking infrastructure. Olga Goncharova, director of Binance in Russia, will lead the center.
In January, she joined Binance to add some impetus to compliance efforts in Russia. The new center will foster conversation between cryptocurrency experts, Russian authorities, and lawmakers. Binance will be amongst the early experts to offer advice. According to Gleb Kostarev, Binance’s Eastern European Director, the exchange has a good history of global cooperation with regulators. He said, “I am sure that our developments, our expertise will be positively received by the Russian banking community.”
Earlier, Kostarev said that Russia is an important conquest for Binance. According to the Central Bank, the annual volume of cryptocurrency transactions stands at around $5 billion.
Finance ministry advocates regulation
The consensus between many institutions is that crypto should be regulated, not criminalized in Russia. This is in contrast with the Russian central bank’s blanket ban proposal. The bank believes that regulating cryptocurrencies is not feasible and wanted to restrict mining and trading due to concerns over financial stability.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said crypto should be legalized and taxed. Additionally, he said that banks and exchanges should identify investors in the cryptocurrency market and brokers for them. Siluanov said his ministry would help identify crypto traders, separating them into “white” market operators and “grey” market operators. The Ministry of Finance would also allow law enforcement to track financial leads and transactions.
The treasury ministry is drafting two laws for the Russian crypto economy. Russian newspaper Kommersant revealed in early February 2022 that the world’s largest crypto exchanges are prepared to work in the Russian Federation under the new laws requiring them to register as legal entities.
